washing pillows

[mrboilwash]

The only bleach I would dare to try for downs and feathers is hydrogen peroxide or a mild liquid bleach product like Ace in Europe, which does not harm wool.
And no softener, it takes away the fluffiness.

 

[launderess]

No Sewing Machine Required

Actually if one examines old pillow tickings, even the ones sold in stores like Sears (have a stash of vintage pillow ticking in my linen cupboard), only small opening is there. This small opening would have been whipstiched closed by hand (suppose one could use a sewing machine).

Again, since the plan was eventually the pillow would be opened for cleaning, the stitching was easily opened.

Remember down and feather pillows have been around since long before automatic tumble dryers existed. Pillows washed in a washing machine (another recent invention), would have taken ages to dry and probably mouldered inside from the damp, if the filling wasn't removed washed & dried on it's own.

L.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Several machines here now offer cycles for duvets and pillows - the Pillows programme on our Miele and the Duvet programme on my friend's Aqualtis model always seem to do a good job.

I have been washing my duvet and pillows today - feather pillows, on the pillows cycle on my washer. It's quite a unique cycle as, before it takes in the detergent, it will spin to get any air out of the pillow - works pretty well on the feather pillows we have. Followed by tumble drying on low temperature on the sensor progamme - followed by 2 runs through the 30 minute warm air programme gets them fresh and fluffy as if they were new .

I wasn't aware of enzymes damaging them - have to say I've always used biological as I use biological detergents as a rule on whites/lights and over 3 or 4 years not seen any ill affects yet! Whether or not they're thoroughly clean I don't know, but they always seem clean enough for me .

Jon

 

[andrewinorlando]

I've washed both down and fiberfill and foam pillows in the Calypso without problem. It will take either one, two or three pillows, depending on size, and not have balance issues with just one pillow. I jsut put a zipped pillow cover over the down pillows to keep the feathers from flying!! But overall, the wash very well. I use the Delicates/Casual cycle or HandWash cycle, depending on what kind of pillows they are. Two king size pillows fit and wash fine, or three standard size pillows work, too, at one time. Nice thing about the Calypso is that you never seem to have to worry about its ability to balance the load for spin, it just always does regardless of how the load is distributed.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I have only washed fiber filled pillows in my TL Maytag. I used the delicate cycle then put them through a regular spin. It then line dried them, and everything was fine.

 

[mrb627]

GE Harmony

The best machine I have ever used for washing pillows was the GE Harmony. Filled to the brim. Pulled them under the water without a problem. Long spin between wash and rinse meant minimal are bubbles trapped inside during the deep rinse. And the 18+ minute extended final spin helped them dry in the dryer in less than 40 minutes.

MRB

 

[DADoES]

Friend of mine has a queen-size down comforter. She smokes & has cats, so it's yellowed (was originally white) and quickly gets stained from kitty-accidents. I've run it a couple times in my Calypso to relatively good results, and will be doing it again shortly (in the Neppy TL this time). It'd be impossible to remove/replace the down as it's quilted with a rectangular stitch pattern over the entire thing. We thus far have used a special down-wash/waterproofing product (NikWash? NikWax?), which may not be strong enough under the circumstances. This time I plan to use a non-enzyme detergent (assuming I have one! Fab?) ... and add oxybooster, which for some reason I didn't think about doing the previous times.

I have Foca, but don't have the bag to check the ingredient list. The phosphate content would be helpful, but does it have enzymes?

 

[mrb627]

Foca Phosphate Content

This is from a news article:

In early November, the Department of Ecology (Ecology) announced that two detergents, manufactured for sale in Mexico, had made it to store shelves in Washington state. Laboratory analyses indicated the detergent Ariel contained 6.06 percent phosphorous, while Foca contained 3.6 percent phosphorous.

 

[panthera]

cover

Shouldn't someone who smokes and takes animals to bed use a cover over their comforter?
For many years I shared a bed with three cats, dog and boy-friend. We just threw the cover into the hamper every other day and put a fresh one on the bed. No smoking, but the four footed folks and the pizza/chocolate cake mid-night snacker sure would have worn a normal Federbett to a frazzle if it had had to be washed as frequently as needed.
It's also a wonderful feeling to slip into freshly laundered sheets, regardless of the eating habits of one's companion/s.

 

[westie2]

For Dadeos on Foca

Read our bag and it does have enzymes.

 

[cvillewasherbo]

panthera

Oh my God. Some actual brain power here. I can't believe it.

First of all, I have two cats, they sleep with me, but, I don't usually eat with them in bed and they don't have "accidents." Not yet anyway. I am also a smoker, but 98% of the time smoke outside.

I have a really nice duvet "cover" to use over my "duvet". It can be taken off and washed in a regular TL washer and dryer easily, however, I'm a hot person so I don't need the duvet, so I just use the cover over me and that gets washed in a 1996 Maytag TL washer without any problems.

For the rest of you, I don't wash my pillows. Every two weeks I put them in the dryer, (two at a time) for 40 minutes at the highest temperature available, and then they come out all puffed up and germ, and dust mite free.

Why do you guys think that you need to wash your pillows? All you need to do is kill the germs and dust mite, etc., then fluff them up and you can do that in your home dryer.

Why buy such expensive pillows in the first place, when you have to maintain them? Jeez!!

C in VA

 

[brettsomers]

why wash pillows?

Perhaps we should all use pillow covers under our pillowcases? I dont, and i have oily skin, and i sometimes drool in my sleep. Thats why i wash. I also use polyfill pillows. My current is from w-mart and washes wonderfully. Im sure when i go back to w-mart to replace it, it will be discontinued or nla.

I cant imagine repeatedly washing a down pillow and having it last.

Btw, i work as a bellhop as a large hotel and many guests prefer to bring their pillow from home, a practice i approve of. However, many of the pillows these folks have me bring in are NASTY, with heavy, hideous saliva/sebum stains barely hidden under a pillowcase. Surely nastier than anything the hotel can offer!

 

[DADoES]

I have no control over what my friend does with her bedding in her home.

I do use protective underslips on the three (newer) pillows in my MBR. The other two BRs I don't (I routinely rotate amongst the rooms). In any case, I'm very warm-natured and my head tends to sweat a lot. My pillows aren't particularly expensive, although the last purchases were from the upper-end choices that WM offered. I simply like to freshen all the bedding pieces occasionally, pillows included.

 

[jeffg]

I didn't even know down pillows can be machine washed until I read this thread. We tried it with two standards in our SQ TL and they came out absolutely perfect. Took forever to dry but it was worth the wait.

We did a quick spin-rinse on the pillows before starting the wash cycle, to get most of the air out of them. Worked great.

 

[whirlcool]

We use thick linen cotton pillow protectors on our pillows under the pillowcases. We wash the protectors every three weeks or so. We have nice down pillows. But in three weeks time it's amazing how dingy those pillow protectors will get.
We always buy blankets and comforters that are washable. We take them to the laundromat when they get dirty. With the dogs getting up on the bed, we used to wash those monthly. But strangely enough, since poor Kurt has been gone, the remaining two dogs won't even go in the bedroom at all now. So the bed stays a lot cleaner!

 

[DADoES]

I washed Brenda's comforter. Three times. Twice @ 125°F (input temp) in All HE liquid (no enzymes listed) with 3 oz. Oxyclean. Third time in Nikwax Down Wash at 105°F.

I should have taken a "before" picture. It was awful. She has been telling me it was originally white. I thought, yeah, right, maybe light beige. Now, other than a few stubborn stains (a couple of which have been there through two previous washings), it's WHITE. Oxyclean apparently made the difference. I never thought to use it previously.

 

[dcgriffin]

I have 2 down comforters and I usually do the normal wash cycle and throw tennis balls in the dryer to distribute the down. I have 5 year old Martha Stewart down pillows and they say "Dry Clean only" and being a cheapskate I got a box of those bojack dry cleaning dryer sheets and tried them just to freshen them up and to kill dust mites and other microscopic cooties, did no such thing. I just do what Court does, throw them in the dryer on high heat.

 

[vintagesearch]

washing pillows.....

i have a pair of standard size set pillows and i have pillow covers on them for allergies as well as regular pillow cases. When i change the sheets i wash all the sheets and pillow cases and slips together and use hot water. i always do my comforter too in a toploader by the way with no problems and no out of balance issues i usually wash the pillows about every 2 months with a hot wash and soak extra rinse and no fabric softener and air dry. Now i purchased a body pillow thats very light weight and looks like two standard pillows put together and now i use that it says "dry clean only" but i will run the damn thing on a handwash setting with warm water and respin it all in our kenmore toploader its very capable.

R

 

[oldhouseman]

Lots of

good pillow washing but pray tell, what are these various and sundry pillows made of that are being washed? Foam, cotton, feather-down, etc?? The materials a pillow is made of determines how it gets washed here.